This is Part II of a series. Read Part I here. What actually makes a thought feel intrusive? The answer to this question is varied, and typically based on the individual’s personal experience and ...

One's mind is a powerful and complex thing. So powerful, in fact, that despite being the organ of the body most studied, neuroscientists are still making new discoveries about brain function, learning ...

Have you ever had an unpleasant thought or image that seems to pop into your head out of nowhere? These unwanted mental visitors, also known as intrusive thoughts, can be disturbing, distressing and ...

Over the past two decades, the concept of mindfulness has become hugely popular around the world. An increasingly ubiquitous ...

None of us can escape intrusive thoughts, the random and usually off-putting musings that include visions of shoving your hand through the center of a beautifully decorated cake or a bridge collapsing ...

Sign up for CNN’s Stress, But Less newsletter. Our six-part mindfulness guide will inform and inspire you to reduce stress while learning how to harness it. Have ...

Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. On average, people have about 6,200 thoughts each day. Inevitably, some will be unwanted, alarming, or ...

Speeding along an open road on my motorcycle, flanked by the great outdoors, the engine hums and the noise in my mind ...

“Intrusive thoughts” has become a TikTok catchphrase for people describing random—sometimes fun or quirky—impulses, but the actual mental health term has a meaning a lot more nuanced, and misusing it ...

Intrusive thoughts don't have to hold you back. “Intrusive thoughts tend to reflect our greatest fears or most unwanted scenarios, so you can treat it as a signal of something important to you,” Dr.